Guwahati, July 26 -- So, Dharmendra Pradhan has finally stepped down!

Break out the confetti, roll out the newsroom banners. Let the television news headlines roll, declaring that "the people have won." We are all expected to join in a chorus of national relief, bow to the magnanimity of the state, clear the streets, and pat ourselves on the back for living in a nation where a minister can be forced out after only a month of national outrage, a wave of suicides and hunger strikes, and days of young people getting their skulls cracked open.

How wonderfully generous of the system. How deeply humbling.

But let's refrain from popping the champagne just yet. Calling this forced exit a victory of democratic morality requires a staggering los...